*ADVENTURES OF GOODBOY*
In the town of Goodcity there lived a rich businessman. But he was also quite a miser. Various people used to flock outside his house everyday hoping for some kind of generosity, but they always had to return home disappointed. He used to ward them off with false promises and then never live up to his word.
Then one day, a poet named Agyenim arrived at his house and said that he wanted to read out his poems to the rich man. As the rich man was very fond of poetry, he welcomed him in with open arms.
Agyenim started to recite all his poems one by one. The rich man was very pleased and especially so when he heard the poem that Agyenim had written about him, because he had been compared with ‘Kubera’, the god of wealth. In those days it was a custom for rich men and kings to show their appreciation through a reward or a gift, as that was the only means of earning that a poor poet possessed. So the rich man promised Agyenim some gifts and asked him to come and collect them the next day. Agyenim was pleased.
The next morning when he arrived at the house, the rich man pretended that he had never laid eyes on him before. When Agyenim reminded him of his promise, he said that although Agyenim was a good poet he understood very little of human nature. And that if a rich businessman truly wanted to reward him, he would have done so the very night. Agyenim had been offered a reward not because he was really pleased or impressed, but to simply encourage him.
Agyenim was extremely upset, but as there was nothing that he could do, he quietly left the house. On his way home, he saw Goodboy riding a horse. So he stopped him and asked for his help after narrating the whole incident. Goodboy took him to his own house in order to come up with a plan. After giving it some thought he asked Agyenim to go to a friend’s house with five gold coins and request the friend to plan a dinner on the coming full moon night, where the rich man would also be invited. Goodboy then asked Agyenim to relax and leave the rest to him.
Agyenim had one trustworthy friend whose name was Boateng. So he went up to him and told him the plan.. The next day, Boateng went to the rich man’s house and invited him for dinner. The dinner has been planned for the coming full moon night. He said that he intended to serve his guests in vessels of gold, which the guests would get to take home after the meal. The rich man was thrilled to hear this and jumped at the offer.
After sunset on the full moon night, the rich man arrived at Boateng’s house and was surprised to see no other guests there but Agyenim. They welcomed him in and started a polite conversation. The rich man had come on an empty stomach and so was getting hungrier by the minute. Agyenim and Boateng were quite full as they had eaten just before the rich man’s arrival.
Finally at midnight, the rich man could bear his hunger no longer and asked Boateng to serve the food. Boateng sounded extremely surprised when he asked him what food he was talking about. The rich man tried to remind him that he had been invited for dinner. At this point, Agyenim asked him for proof of the invitation. The rich man had no answer. Then Boateng told him that he had just invited him to please him and had not really meant it. He then went on to say that even though they did not do anything good for other people they also would never try to hurt another human being and asked the rich man not to feel bad.
At that point, Goodboy walked into the room and reminded the rich man of the same treatment that he had himself meted out to Agyenim. The rich man realised his mistake and begged for forgiveness. He said that Agyenim was a good poet and had not asked him for any reward. He himself had promised to give him some gifts and then cheated him out of them. To make up for his mistake, he took out the necklace that he was wearing and gifted it to Agyenim. Then they all sat down to eat a happy meal.
Agyenim was all praise for Goodboy and thanked him profusely. King Bediako also invited him to his court and honoured him, all thanks to Goodboy.
Goodboy really is a wise man.
To be continued…
